Baseball Woes

I was just watching some highlights of the 1969 world series. Maybe I'm
just waxing nostalgic, but things WERE different then. For example...

First, you got to watch the game. Today, you get to see only what the
network deems important, No longer do you follow the pitcher back to the
mound to see his expression or body language between pitches. Instead, you
see replays of each pitch and play in the field. It used to be that instant
replays were for really great moments, like Swoboda's catch. Today, every
pitch is treated like the play of the game and repeated 3 or 4 times. You
see it from left field, then the dugout view, then behind the plate, and
lest we forget the toe-cam just fwd of home plate. I'm surprised they
haven't strapped cameras to the bellies of trained pigeons. Of course, some
of the more wealthy teams would just hire military-type unmanned aircraft to
hover over the plate.

Second, the announcers just announced the games. They didn't ramble on
incessantly and feel it was necessary to spew every statistic about a
player. More than let the viewers watch the games, they actually let the
viewers HEAR the game...the WHOLE game. In those highlights, you heard the
roar of the crowd...crack of the bat, or alternatively, the ball hitting the
catcher's mitt. You could get your own thoughts going about the game
because you weren't being bombarded with stupid and useless chatter. Now,
you can barely think. It's almost better to shut the sound off.

Third, and most odd, I thought. There were these areas of the field that
were darker than others. Places where it looked like the stadium lights
weren't working. If I didn't know better, I'd say they were shadows where
the stadium's upper deck blocked sunlight from reaching the field. But that
couldn't be, because we all know that baseball games are meant to be played
at night! Especially World Series' games. But these games really looked
like they were being played about 4 or 5 in the afternoon. Unheard of! I
mean, so what these were two East Coast teams, you still need to push the
games late enough to let the West Coast watch, don't you? OK, sarcasm
aside, the games today are just to damn late! Enough said.

Baseball doesn't care about it's fans anymore...only the money. The greed
starts with the players and their salaries and goes right into in the front
office with advertising and broadcast rights. It's what happens, I guess,
when you let accountants run ball clubs. They care more about the bottom
line than the base lines. That's why sports stadiums are bearing corporate
names. How sad? How much money do these people need? Don't they realize
there is a generation of kids who have been priced and timed out of ball
games? 20 years from now, when today's kids have kids, they won't be
interested much anymore, and they won't pass the love of the game down.
Where will they be then? This is why, although I have been following the
Boston Red Sox in the series, I really don't care to watch much. It's my
own form of protest. I much prefer local, minor league ball, like the New
Britain Rock Cats. Reasonable games and prices, good fun, no greed or BS.
Major leagues have become too elitist. I just don't have any time for them
anymore.